“The administrative centre of the state was so far removed from the rest of the huge state, leaving Central Queensland, not only lagging, but used as a source of revenue for the aggrandisement of Brisbane and Southern Queensland.”
This quote could have been said yesterday, but (not quite word for word) was included in a petition that was worded in 1892, with the intention to be presented to Queen Victoria. 132 years ago. Long before the royalties derived from Bowen Basin coal would flow into state coffers. It was even before federation of Australia. And even more telling, it was before women had the right to vote in Queensland state elections (1905), considering the petition was organised and only signed by women, around 4000 of them, all of which were at least 21 years of age (more would have signed if the minimum age was 18).
Where is this historic document? Ironically in Brisbane, at the John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. Possibly there is nowhere grandiose enough in Central Queensland, to have it on permanent display. Or, is it, the victor keeps the spoils!
Do enough of us still believe Central Queensland is lagging an aggrandised Southern Queensland, fundamentally funded by CQ revenue? And if so, could a movement, like the 1890’s Central Queensland Territorial Separation League and its off-shoot, the Women’s Central Queensland Territorial Separation League, be successfully formed, to champion separation. After all, why should we expect a cog, situated in the bottom corner of our large state, to be as equally interested in our welfare, especially if we do not demonstrate that we want more control of our own destiny?
Calls from Central Queensland to be a separate state (or state capital) can be traced right back to the 1860’s, yet despite the intermittent subsequent calls, primarily based on the same arguments, to the present day, it appears that the 1890’s was the most serious bid to separate from the south of the state.
Kenmore House, in the Mater Hospital Rockhampton grounds, built in 1894, being a magnificent tangible symbol of this commitment and belief, having arguably being built with the intention to be Government House for the new state.
The said petition, (which had its origins at a meeting of 200 women at the Rockhampton School of Arts building, in October 1892, to form the Women’s Central Queensland Territorial Separation League), all 33 metres of it, being not just another historically important tangible depiction of this commitment, but a symbol of the women’s activism and belief in the future, of a town (and region), just 34 years old. Women who were not allowed to sign the earlier (larger) petition in favour of separation, because they were not on the electoral role, or could apply to be enrolled.
Read, what one of the ladies who collected signatures for this petition, Margaretta Ramm, wrote of her commitment and belief in separation, “…. separation will be the salvation of the country”, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/52443423.
Will Central Queensland history students in 2124 (assuming it is still taught) look back with embarrassment, at how Central Queensland slipped further behind the south east corner; infrastructure, health care, education, access to drinkable water, opportunities; in part due to our willingness to concede our control to a poorly positioned capital, for a state as large as Queensland? (Brisbane’s location is comparable to having our heart and lungs trying to effectively function from the outer metatarsal of our foot. The Gold Coast being our little toe.)
And what do current students of history know of Central Queensland efforts to become a separate state? (What do long-time residents know?)
With the relatively new Rockhampton Museum of Art, hopefully being able to provide a suitable place to display a fragile, 131-year-old, petition, we should demand for it to be returned, to where it originated, to be put on permanent display. A symbol, which not only is part of our history, but visible proof that women of Central Queensland in the 1890’s, despite being treated as second class citizens, in not having the right to vote, felt empowered, equals in the cause, believing they had more to add to the demands for separation, by forming their own league, to organise their passionate endeavours, to achieve the goal.
Plus, with the petition on permanent display in Central Queensland, it will serve as a continual reminder that we, Central Queensland, should not sit idly by, hoping the state administrative centre, located in the south east corner, will always treat us as equals; it must be continually challenged, we owe that to our forebears and (I believe, what the women of the 1890’s strongly felt), more importantly, descendants.
